Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder (7) is sacked by Cleveland Browns defensive tackle John Hughes (93) for a six-yard loss in the third quarter as the Minnesota Vikings play the Cleveland Browns at the Metrodome in Minneapolis Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday, September 22, 2013. Browns won 31-27.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Fans react as the Vikings try and fail to score in the final seconds of the game as the Minnesota Vikings play the Cleveland Browns at the Metrodome in Minneapolis Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday, September 22, 2013. Browns won 31-27.
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

The lead and the game were in the Vikings’ grasp again, with a chance to bury the heretofore winless Cleveland Browns and escape a shoddy Metrodome performance with a much-needed victory for their overseas junket.

Perhaps they should cancel Friday’s team dinner at the iconic Tower of London and check availability in Churchill’s bunker following the comprehensive meltdown that produced Sunday’s 31-27 loss.

Suddenly, the Vikings are 0-3 and staring into the abyss, with a vast array of problems beyond quarterback Christian Ponder’s proclivity for blowtorching his playmaking street cred with unsightly turnovers and timidity in the clutch.

Their supposedly staunch offensive line is a hot mess, having surrendered six sacks.

The defense is unavailable for 60 minutes, yielding a winning touchdown on the final drive for the second straight week.

Special teams forgot the game was Sunday, allowing the Browns to score a touchdown off a fake field-goal attempt one possession after a fake punt extended a drive that led to a field goal.

An injury-riddled secondary let journeyman quarterback Brian Hoyer — less than a week ago No. 3 on Cleveland’s depth chart — complete 30 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns, including the clincher to tight end Jordan Cameron with 51 seconds remaining.

Hoyer’s three sloppy interceptions show he’s no Jay Cutler. But he managed to steal victory from the Vikings just as Chicago’s gunslinger did the previous week at Soldier Field.

“We need to finish,” groused veteran defensive tackle Kevin Williams. “We cannot just play for a half, two quarters or three quarters. We have to play the whole game and finish.”

And a game the Vikings had to win against a team vilified last week for supposedly punting the 2013 season by trading franchise running back Trent Richardson to Indianapolis for a bevy of draft picks fell into the loss column.

The boos from the sellout crowd of 63,672 started early as Minnesota fell behind 24-14 late in the second quarter. Ponder’s second-quarter interception drew “Cassel! Cassel!” chants for backup Matt Cassel, though coach Leslie Frazier quickly doused that speculation.

“He’s still our starting quarterback,” Frazier said about Ponder.

A crestfallen Frazier was at a loss to account for so much that went wrong not only Sunday but this season.

“We dug ourselves a hole for sure,” he said. “We’ve got some high-character guys. I think they’ll respond the right way. I think we’re responding. We’re just not playing well, well enough to win.”

Minnesota has generated eight takeaways the past two games but not enough to overcome six turnovers, including another fumble by running back Adrian Peterson.

“To come away with four turnovers again and not win two weeks in a row,” Frazier said, “it just makes you scratch your head.”

Last week, the Vikings settled for three field goals after driving into Chicago’s red zone three times in the second half, leaving them a four-point lead that Cutler and the Bears shredded.

Unable to convert a first down on either of their last two offensive possessions against the Browns (Ponder misfired to Greg Jennings on third and 5 in the latter), the Vikings once again put the game in the hands of their defense with 3:21 remaining and Cleveland starting at its 45-yard line.

Hoyer misfired on his first two attempts before converting a first down with an 11-yard strike to go-to receiver Josh Gordon (10 receptions, 146 yards). He then completed 5 of 7 passes to move the Browns to Minnesota’s 7-yard line.

With less than a minute remaining, the Vikings blitzed Hoyer in the shotgun. Cameron, who already had caught scoring passes of 19 and 11 yards, got outside safety Harrison Smith in the left corner of the end zone and stretched out to haul in Hoyer’s fade pass to complete the comeback.

“They brought the house and I just ran to the corner,” Cameron said. “Brian put the ball where no one else could get it. It was a great throw.”

Ponder took over at his 29-yard line with 47 seconds remaining and one timeout. He completed four passes but none for more than 15 yards, mostly checkdowns that only brought Minnesota to the Browns’ 34-yard line before Desmond Bryant wrapped him up for a game-ending sack.

Ponder led an 80-yard drive to start the game that culminated with Peterson’s 2-yard touchdown run behind left tackle Letroy Guion’s lead block. He also made a smart decision to run draws out of the shotgun to score a pair of touchdowns on runs of 6 and 8 yards.

Ponder also threw a second-quarter interception and fumbled in the red zone in the final seconds of the first half, finishing 25 for 42 for just 228 yards.

“It hurt a lot,” Ponder said about failing to move the chains the final two drives. “It’s something we worked on all training camp and we talk about it every Friday, our four-minute offense. We just didn’t execute it. We gave them the opportunity to win the game and they did so.”

Brian Murphy has been on the Pioneer Press sports staff since 2000, migrating from the Detroit Free Press, where he covered police, courts and sports for four years. Murphy was the Minnesota Wild/NHL beat writer from 2002 to 2008 and has covered the Vikings as a reporter and columnist since 2009. Murphy is a Detroit native and Wayne State University graduate.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

It was clear early on that the Gophers women’s basketball team was in for a physical game against Army. Minnesota didn’t seem to mind all the hands, elbows and hips directed its way — the Gophers play in the Big Ten, after all — and earned a 70-52 victory over the Black Knights on Thursday night at Williams Arena. “I...

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors pushed aside the Minnesota Timberwolves — again. With Toronto down 95-94 with 8:46 left, DeRozan and Lowry keyed a 17-4 Raptors run that took the game away from the youthful Timberwolves. Toronto eventually pulled out a 124-110 victory, handing Minnesota its 13th straight loss at Air Canada Centre. “We just...

Members of the Missouri Tigers volleyball team are ready to have about 5,500 people rooting against them Friday night at 7:15 p.m. when they take on Minnesota’s Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA volleyball Minneapolis regional. “We’ve competed against a Big Ten team (Purdue, whom 27-5 Missouri defeated to advance to the regional semifinal) and that wasn’t a...

Unafraid of introducing his players to advanced statistics, Gophers coach Richard Pitino routinely tells his squad where they stand among college basketball’s top teams in stats not included in a box score. He prints out charts that combine traditional and advanced statistics, discusses them with players at practice and has an assistant track them during games to help with adjustments....

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was optimistic punt returner Marcus Sherels will be able to play Sunday at Jacksonville, which would be a boost to a special-teams unit that struggled in several phases in last week’s loss to Dallas. Sherels has missed three of the past four games because of injury, including the previous two. Adam Thielen and Cordarrelle Patterson assumed...

When Mat Robson visited the University of Minnesota last month, he knew it was for him. Bright lights. Big city. Elite players. In Minneapolis, the 20-year-old saw a place similar to his hometown, and a chance to play goalie in front of 10,000 fans at Mariucci Arena. “The first and most important thing was going to a great program,” said...